'73: It Could Have Been Paradise-The Magnetic Fields

[00:07.78]We lived in Pā'ia [00:10.84]Hippie central, I could hop to the beach [00:16.06]Sometimes we would hitchhike [00:18.60]Miles to school, school being a figure of speech [00:24.07]Where we sang (kahuli aku, kahuli mai) [00:32.87]We lived on a zendo [00:35.94]In the forest, silence for days on end [00:41.10]Caught up on my reading [00:44.06]Huckleberry Finn was my only friend [00:49.45]It could have been paradise [00:53.41]But for the horrible bugs [00:57.38]I could have gone to a real school [01:01.46]But for the murderous thugs [01:06.05]In the forest of paradise [01:09.84]We gathered magic mushrooms [01:14.72]But mostly I sat around [01:18.35]In rooms as quiet as tombs [01:22.37]It was heaven [01:27.58]My mother then took up with [01:30.53]A trumpeter, red beard and pork pie hat [01:35.73]Found a lyric of mine [01:38.80]He took it home and set music to that [01:44.26]To impress my mother [01:47.62]He stole my song. Better back off, mister [01:52.42]Fast forward two decades [01:55.08]Same thing happened but with Shakespeare's sister [02:00.89]Why should it be paradise? [02:04.77]That's just a place people go [02:08.95]It was home for a little while [02:12.77]But you can give me the snow [02:17.85]Give me the snow [02:22.20]My friend Shell was named for [02:25.16]A shell on the beach. She spoke pidgin English [02:30.29]Everyday I swam out [02:33.36]Onto the reef, catching exotic fish [02:38.72]It could have been paradise [02:42.49]With one good reason to stay [02:46.71]If it had been paradise [02:50.70]Guess we'd still be there today [02:55.44]Singing away